


Lethe

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6692260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shay, a high-school English teacher, must battle through the demon that is addiction. Plagued by the memories of his late wife and infant son, his battle seems hopeless. Will he free himself from his hell? Or will he forever be lost drinking from the waters of the river Lethe?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lethe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone here that reads my Nocturnal Demons fic, don't worry this will not interfere with that story. I found this old short story that I had written a few years back on my computer while going through some of my old files.

            My alarm clock rang its dreadful howl and awoke me from my alcohol-induced sleep. I pondered over the night’s dreams and wished I hadn’t. It was always the same. Or at least the same theme, the same dreadful, dreadful theme. Of all the dreams I would remember, why was it this one that kept reappearing, and never vanishing from my thoughts? I knew the answer, I just wasn’t willing to think about it.

            As my head began feeling a million daggers stabbing into it and attempting to tear it off, I was reminded of the alarm, and the purpose of it. I hit the alarm off hard enough I feared I broke it, but didn’t care enough to check. I threw my covers off and forced myself out of bed, the daggers did not give up on their attempts in the slightest.

            _'Great,'_ I thought, _'first day back to work and I’m going to have a hangover the whole time.'_ I knew that this was an exaggeration, it would likely give way within a couple of hours.

            As I walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day, the daggers continued their hopeless cause, yet instead of attempting to ignore them, I found myself focusing all my conscious thought on them and the pain they caused me. I knew I had to, the pain the daggers caused was much less than that of the pain I was trying to ignore. The pain that I was forced to remember every day I awoke to find myself alone in a house, that before, felt so full and full of life.

            _'Stop it!'_ I heard a part of my mind shout as my thoughts wandered. _'Don’t allow yourself to go down that path!'_

           So I didn’t. I distracted myself by continuing to focus on the daggers and the pain they caused. When I finally reached the bathroom I stripped and turned on the shower, but once the water sprayed out of the showerhead, the sudden sound of the water pouring down onto the porcelain of the bathtub took both me and the daggers by surprise. The daggers jumped back from the noise, deeper into my skull, and the unexpected and powerful pain caused me to drop to my knees.

            After the surprise wore off and the daggers returned to their original position still digging into my cranium, but not as deep or as hard as before, I got back to my feet and held my pained head waiting for my vision to return to normal, as my eyes had blurred from the pain.

            Once my eyesight had cleared I stepped into the roaring shower. The water was hot, burning, it burned my bare skin to the touch, the steam growing with every drop, but it was just more pain, more pain to focus on. The daggers and the burning of the roaring shower were nowhere near as painful as the pain that needed to be forgotten, but could not be.

            And then I heard a thought in my head. _'Allow yourself to think of it in here. The shower’s streams can hide your own. It is safe here.'_

           So I did. Water poured down my face, this water burned just like the rest of it, but it was not hot, it was cold, a strange mixture the two, one corrupting the other’s heat and the other does the same, but still they burn. This new water that poured down burned because of the painful memories that it held within. I would not call the water by what it was, by what I knew it was, I was stronger than that.

            This water held memories of long, flowing, golden locks. Of eyes the color of a spring meadow. Of skin as soft and kind as silk. Of a kind and sweet voice whispering even sweeter nothings into my ear. Of soft lips on mine that made any problem disappear. Of tears that, even when angry, made me wish only to hold and protect her. Of a ring that now was hidden away in a drawer, because of how it now burned to wear upon my finger.

As more of it rained down, more memories came with it, memories that burned worse than before, that burned like the flames of a thousand suns. Memories of small hands wrapping around my fingers. Of a tiny nose like my own. Of a small giggle that could make any dark day bright. Of stories told that only he could understand. Of eyes like his mother’s.

The water poured down more rapidly as the final memory poured down with it. An echo of the past, playing in my ears as though it were mere moments ago. A quiet voice, which I only wish I could hear again, uncertain if it was saying the words right, _“Da-Da.”_

His first word.

At that, I fell to my knees and the water, no the tears, rolled down my face more rapidly than ever before. I covered my eyes so that nothing would witness my moment of weakness, and I sobbed. I saw their names appear within my eyes, names I would never forget: Natalie, my wife, the love of my life, and Jay, my child, my one and only son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who wants to read more, just say so. I may or may not work on editing the later chapters to post, depending on the opinions. If it isn't wanted, I won't put time I could be using on other things on it. So again, let me know.


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